1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to extruded components for the manufacture of picture frame assemblies and poster support assemblies.
2. Prior Art
Poster gripping assemblies have been known in the field, for a number of years. One such instance is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,152 to Seely et. al. which shows a tamper proof poster display arrangement. This display arrangement has an outer cover portion with certain defined angles which make it difficult to open the cover from its base. An “opener tool” is required for that. The cover and the base portions are independently extruded and have a hinge relationship which requires a difficult “slide together” assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,959 to Palmer et. al. discloses a gripper extrusion arrangement wherein a front cover portion and a rear panel portion are separately extruded and mated together in another complicated hinge assembly. Inadvertent sliding between the front cover portion and the rear panel portion is prevented by a rather complicated discontinuity formed in the front panel which mates with a slot or the like in the rear panel. This requires further operations and unnecessary manufacturing costs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,575 to Ivansson et. al. shows a frame comer assembly wherein adjacent sides of a frame are held together with a rather complicated bracket arrangement. The cover portions and rear panel portions are individually extruded and are snapped together. Alignment of the ends of these multiple component arrangements lead to inaccurate end mis-aligned comer sections.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,496 to Tanaka shows a sign frame with comer arrangements for attaching sides of that frame together. Mitered alignment of the comers is avoided by a comer insert which is somewhat more expensive to manufacture and adds a further step in that procedure.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,512,094; 4,512,095 and 4,523,400, all to Seely, disclose a hinged, plastic biased poster frame arrangement. None of these references however teach the use of replaceable covers for providing indicia which may be thus changed by the manufacturer to provide a different appearing product, and which cover also physically applies a biasing force to facilitate and supplement the pinching of a poster in that frame arrangement.
It is an object of the present invention, to provide a poster gripping assembly which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a poster gripping assembly which may be utilized in a poster-holding configuration by itself or in a frame construction of rectilinear configuration.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a poster gripping assembly which simplifies the manufacturing operation over the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a poster gripping apparatus without a biasing spring arrangement required to permit adjustment of its bias.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a two part frame assembly which is easily extruded and assembled.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a frame assembly with a cover portion which permits a simple change in bias pressure against a display panel, decor, color or attention gathering characteristics.
It is yet still a further object of the present invention to provide a poster gripping assembly which may be assembled into a rectilinear frame construction with accuracy and simplicity while minimizing the likelihood of defects as may be associated with the prior art.